Player-piano.



1. A. WESER, PLAYER PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 5,1915.

Patented June 12, 1917.

WITNESSES 1 W &

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PLAYER-PIANO.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented June 12, 1917.

Application filed February 5, 1915. Serial No. 6,200.

1' '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN A. Wnsnn, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Player-Pianos, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to player pianos and is concerned particularly with the construction of the actions therefor and the disposition of these actions with respect to each other and to the actuating player pneumatics whereby space is econoinized and each hammer is caused to strike a blow of an intensity equal to the blow struck by every other hammer. A further object of the invention is to mount the player pneumatics in series or banks, one above another, and yet so to connect each pneumatic to its abstractas to insure the impressing of the force of each pneumatic on its abstract through a lever arm of equal length to all of the other lever arms. By the last named construction it becomes possible to economize space and insure the delivery of blows by the hammers on the respective strings, of equal intensity. In former constructions it is the common practice to connect operatively each pneumatic with its abstract by the engagement of a finger carried on the movable member 0? the pneumatic with a block fixed on the abstract. Such a connection precludes the provision of any appreciable leverage between the pneumatic and the jack, and the bulk and positions of the blocks on the abstracts require that a considerable space within the case of the piano be devoted to the actions. In accordance with the present invention each pneumatic is operatively connected to its abstract through a rocker arm which serves to support the jack and abstract and at the same time serves as a lever arm through which the force of the pneumatic is transmitted to the jack. This rocker arm is of equal length for each pneumatic so that, no matter where the pneumatic may be positioned with respect to any other pneumatic, the blow delivered by its hammer is as great as that delivered by any other hammer. A further object of the invention is to provide an improved finger piece or key lever which is m unt d the Piaea with re pe t to the pneumatics and actions, and is so con structed, as to permit it to be removed readily without disturbing any of the the instrument.

The invention will be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows, partly in section and partly in side elevation, so much of a player piano as is necessary for an understanding of ti e application of the present improvements thereto.

The usual key base a has mounted thereon the key lever or finger piece 72 (only one such lever appearing in the drawing), the inner end of which has resting thereon the usual abstract 0 which is pivotally joined to a rocker (Z carried by a fixed rail 6 and supporting the usual jack 1, the upper end of which is operatively disposed with respect to the hammer g, as will be understood from the prior art. On some suitable frame, such as h, which extends transversely across the entire width of the piano case, are mounted, in accordance with the illustrated embodiment, two series of player pneumatics i and 70 disposed, respectively, one above another. It is to be understood, however, that the disposition of each pneumatic with respect to the one below it is dependent entirely upon the positions of their respective abstracts and the present invention is not to be limited to any particular alinement or relative positioning of these pneumatics. The pneumatics i and 70 may be controlled in the usual manner by air ducts i and h, respectively, communicating with the usual tracker board (not illustrat'ed). On the movable members 2' and c of the respective pneumatics i and 7c are fastened suitable finger lovers 6 and 73 re spectively, which may be of any approved type and which extend beyond the front edges of the respective pneumatics. and carry on their ends suitable cushioned blocks i and 70*, respectively, adapted to engage the lever elements through which the force of the respective pneumatics is transmitted to each abstract. in realizing the objects of the present invention, the transmitting levers are made in the form of rockers, one of such rockers having been designated by the reference character (Z and being eX- tended beyond the point of attachment to the abstract 0 for an appreciable distance, so that its free end, which may be rounded, as. at d, will. rest over the cushioned b199 5,

parts of i on the finger lever i of one of the upper pneumatics 2'. It will be understood that the construction described will be duplicated for each of the abstracts and rockers which are to be actuated by the pneumatics in the upper series. By this construction, the force of the pneumatic i is transmitted through the rocker (Z to the jack f and a leverage of appreciable proportions is secured so that the hammer g is thrown against its string with a quick sharp blow, such as is recognized to be desirable in pianos generally.

Each of the pneumatics 7c in the lower series has its finger lever 70 and cushioned block 70* similarly disposed with respect to a rocker Z pivoted, as at Z, to a fixed rail m, and also pivoted, as at Z, to its abstract a. The free end of the rocker Z lies over the cushioned block 70 and the lever arms of the rocker Z are of substantially the same proportions as the lever arms found in the upper rockers (Z. In this way, the force of the pneumatic 7c is transmitted to its abstract through a system which insures the delivery of a blow by the hammer equal in intensity to that delivered by each of the hammers which are actuated by the pneumatics i in the upper series. This result is secured by eliminating the usual fixed connections or blocks which have formerly been found on the abstracts and with which the finger levers of the player pneumatics have hitherto cooperated. Further, the elimination of such fixed blocks or equivalents, permits the space within the piano case to be economized greatly and the advantages of compactness, effectiveness of operation, and certainty of tone coordination, are realized.

It is to be noted that in the drawing only a portion of the abstract at is indicated, but inasmuch as the associated elements at the upper end thereof are substantially similar to the elements shown at the upper end of the abstract 0, it is thought unnecessary to give a more detailed illustration.

Another feature of the invention resides in the construction of the finger piece 6. As indicated in dotted lines, this finger piece is pivoted on the key base a on a vertically disposed pin 0 which is received by a tapered recess 6' formed in the key lever 7) and also illustrated in dotted lines. By reason of the taper of the recess 6 from the lower edge of the key 5 to the upper edge thereof, the key can be rocked reacily about the stud 0,

as during manual operation of the key and, when the key is to be removed from the stud 0, the recess 6 permits such relative movement between the pin and the lever as to facilitate upward movement of the outer end of the lever and subsequent withdrawal thereof. This withdrawal and the subsequent replacement of the key may be readily made without disturbing any of the mechanism of the piano.

Changes within the scope of the appended claims may be made without departing from this invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a player piano, the combination of a series of abstracts, a plurality of pneumatics for actuating certain of said abstracts, a second plurality of pneiunatics for actuating certain others of the abstracts and disposed below said first named plurality of pneiunatics, rocker arms pivotally connectec to all of said abstracts and having their ends extended beyond the faces thereof, said rocker arms being arranged in plurality at different levels to correspond to the plurality of pneumatics, and fingers carried on the movable members of all of said pneumalics and directly engaging the free ends of said rocker arms respectively.

2. In a player piano, the combination of .abstracts, hammers actuated thereby, a plurality of pneumatics for actuating certain of said abstracts, another plurality of pneumatics disposed below said first named plurality for actuating the remaining abstracts, rocker arms pivotally connected to the first named of said abstracts and in substantially the same horizontal plane with. the first named of said pneumatics, other rocker arms pivotally connected to the last named of said abstracts and lying in substantially the same horizontal plane with the last named of the pneumatics, a support for the first named of said rocker arms, an independent support below the first named support for the second named of said rocker arms, and fingers carried 011 the movable members of the abstracts for directly engaging the free ends of the respective rocker arms through equal leverages.

This specification signed and witnessed this 3rd day of February, I). 1915.

JOHN A. \VESER. Signed in the presence of IV. H. KEA'rINe, CHAS. Voenn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

